Transition Track

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The Transition Track is a track of sound of the next scene that starts up at the very end of the previous scene. This track is said to "bleed" into the previous scene.

Required for a Split Edit. Bonus points if the track matches the mood or words at the end of the other scene. For instance, if a character has just been let down, and sad violin music pipes up. Cut to a fancy restaurant where the sad music is being played by the house entertainment.

Compare Two Scenes, One Dialogue.

Examples of Transition Track include:


Anime and Manga

Film

  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As Indiana and his father are looking at the signpost to Berlin, we hear a marching drumbeat. The scene shifts to Berlin, where Nazis are marching around a pile of burning books with martial music playing.
  • Used in Lawrence of Arabia when the scene cuts from the banks of the Suez Canal to a busy street in downtown Cairo.

Live Action Television

  • A very good example of a non-musical Transition Track happens in the last episode of My So-Called Life. Patty is trying to tell her family about her dream, but they all leave before she can. She utters what she dreamed about, and we hear an off-screen "Seriously?" as though someone was answering her. Cut to the next scene, where the character who voiced the sentiment talks about another girl's dream.